Special Message

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I submit to Congress the accompanying copy of a correspondence between the Secretary of State, the Spanish minister, and the Secretary of the Navy, concerning the case of the bark Providencia , a Spanish vessel seized on her voyage from Havana to New York by a steamer of the United States Blockading Squadron and subsequently released. I recommend the appropriation of the amount of the award of the referee.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.